Hells Bells
by supernaturaldarkangel252018
Summary: The last of the Family series.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone! This is the last story in the Family series, so I hope you all like it! It starts off right after Ramble On, so you may be a little lost if you haven't read that one. Enjoy!_

* * *

 _Hey Dean, I'm really sorry that you're reading this because that means I'm gone, or um, more accurately dead. And I am really sorry about dying, but you know my luck, and with the close calls I've had, I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner. I'm a cat, but I'm pretty sure I've used up way more than my nine lives, which means I've technically had more time with you guys than I was supposed to. It's lame, I know, but that's the best I can do since this is kind of depressing to write, but I know I need to do it because I'm pretty sure you guys are going to be pretty messed up about my death._

 _By the way, if you try to bring me back, I'll haunt your ass. Bobby told me all about demon deals and what your Dad did, and I don't want that. It would kill me…again…if you did that for me. I'm not worth your soul or Sam's soul and I don't want you to do that. I swear I'll never forgive you if do that, so it'll be a complete waste if you ignore me and do it anyway. You guys are my family and I want to protect you just as much as you want to protect me._

 _Ok, so, I know you hate chick-flick-moments, but I'm dead so I get a free pass. I hope you already know that you guys finding me was the best thing to ever happen to me, but you can be kind of dense about that kind of thing, so I'll say it again. You guys finding me was the best thing to ever happen to me. I would have died a long time ago all by myself with no family at all if you guys hadn't found me. I can't even write all the good things that have happened to me because of you guys because I'll hurt my hand or run out of time or something before I get it all written down._

 _I wish there was some way I could make this better, I know a letter isn't enough, but this is all I can do now. When Rachel died, I would have done anything to just have one thing from her, a letter, a voicemail, anything, and I don't want to leave you guys with nothing since you've given me everything. If something happened to you or Sam, I would want something to hold on to. So, don't get mad and rip this up because you might regret it later. This might help with the whole grieving process, or maybe make you smile one more time, or maybe it'll be a way to remember me. I know it's awful, but please don't forget me. You guys are the best big brothers anyone could ask for. I didn't deserve either of you, but for some reason, the universe didn't agree and I'm thankful every day for that. Dean, you're the best big brother and I'm sorry I couldn't stick around until we all grew old and crotchety like Rufus and Bobby._

 _Take care of yourself, Dean._

 _-Alec_

He was shaking by the end and his jaw was clenched so tight, he was starting to get a headache and there was a real possibility that he was going to break his teeth. He couldn't think straight, he was so mad.

His head shot up when the door to the motel room busted open, and Sam came in, carefully supporting their little brother. There was a gash above Alec's right eye, and even though his knee was recovered, his bad leg was still shaking with the effort it was taking to hold himself up. He must have been running since that was when his knee gave him the most trouble.

But Sam was speaking before he could even process what he was seeing. "We gotta go, like, now," Sam said in a rush. "This town is definitely anti-transgenic. Saw his barcode and went after him. Group of 20 or so…He called me to come get him, but I didn't take your Baby, so we've got a good head start on them. Dean, are you listening?"

He was only half listening. Seeing his little brother bleeding should have snapped him out of his anger, but it didn't. Of course Alec was bleeding because obviously his little brother had given up, which seriously pissed him off.

Without thinking, he stormed forward and punched Alec in the face. His little brother staggered out of Sam's hold, but did nothing to stop him from grabbing him and shoving him up against the wall. He heard Alec's breath leave him in a whoosh, and Sam yelled his name and yelled 'chisto', but he ignored him and growled, "What the Hell is wrong with you?!"

"Dude…I'm not the one attacking my brother right now," Alec breathed. He could see the tiny hint of fear in Alec's eyes, but he was trying to hide it.

Sam tried to pull him back, but he refused to budge. "How'd they get the jump on you, huh?" Dean challenged. "Did you just let them beat you up? Did you even try to fight back?!"

"Dean get off of him!" Sam yelled, pushing him away from Alec. Sam took a deep breath, and then slowly let it back out, "What's going on?" Sam asked as calmly as he could.

He just glared at Alec.

"Sam, we need to go," Alec said softly. "They're gonna figure out where we are if we don't."

"You need stitches and ice before we go," Sam said, pointing at their little brother in a silent order. "Sit down. You gotta get your weight off your knee for a while." Alec nodded, shooting a quick, betrayed look to him before he limped over to the bed. He knew he hurt Alec, but his little brother had hurt him too. He grumbled a little when Sam suddenly grabbed his arm and forced him to go outside. "Do I need to get the holy water or are you going to talk to me."

"I'm not possessed, Sam," Dean muttered.

"Then why the _Hell_ did you punch our little brother?" Sam hissed, barely concealing his anger.

Instead of answering, he pushed the crumpled letter against Sam's chest and looked away. But he couldn't help but look back to see Sam's reaction to the letter. Sam frowned as he scanned the carefully written words, and then his jaw clenched when he got closer to the end. "Why did he write this?" Sam asked slowly, looking up at him again.

"He's giving up," Dean said.

"I thought we were over this," Sam breathed. "I thought he was doing better…"

"I thought so too, but obviously not," Dean grumbled. "I went lookin' for a shirt since he always steals all of mine, and I found it. There was one for you too, but I only read mine before you guys came back."

"We need to talk to him," Sam said. "And I mean talk, not just hitting him again." He ducked his head knowing he should have thought about it and tried to calm down before he hit his little brother. "Alec's strong, but that probably hurt him more than any injury he's ever had. You need to talk to him and apologize before he decides he should just take off."

"I know…" Dean muttered guiltily.

"Which do you wanna talk about first?" Sam asked. "The letter or sticking around?"

"Don't they kinda go hand in hand?" Dean asked back.

"You want me there when you apologize or not?" Sam asked bluntly.

He sighed and rolled his eyes before he headed back inside. Alec wasn't sitting on the bed like Sam had told him to, which wasn't surprising, but he felt instant panic when he didn't see his little brother. "Alec?" He called out softly. He heard the water turn on in the bathroom, and he breathed out in relief knowing his little brother was still there. Sam motioned to the bathroom and he nodded in agreement before he slowly walked to the door. The door was cracked, but he still knocked before he opened it a little more and asked, "Can I come in?"

Alec didn't say anything; he carefully put in another stitch in the gash over his eye. He was just about to tell Alec that he shouldn't be putting in his own stitches when Sam pushed past him and took over stitching up Alec's cut. Alec's bad leg was still shaking, but he knew he couldn't point it out right now. He'd betrayed Alec's trust by hitting him, and he didn't know how to fix that.

"Alec, Dean found the note…" Sam whispered as he put in another stitch. Alec nodded, but he still didn't look at either of them or say anything. "What's going on?" Sam asked, using his gentle, soothing voice to try to get Alec to talk to them. "I thought you were doing better…You've been sleeping and eating…"

"I'm fine, Sam," Alec whispered.

"Then what's with the goodbye letter?" Dean growled. Alec looked up at him in the mirror, not even bothering to try to hide the tortured look in his eyes. "Alec, what the Hell?" Dean asked, taking a small step forward. He immediately froze though when Alec flinched as though he was going to hit him again. "Alec, I'm so sorry," Dean whispered. "I shouldn't have hit you. I just got mad because you're giving up. You're saying goodbye to us and I don't know why. Why did you go through all that physical therapy for your knee if you were just gonna give up?"

"I'm not giving up," Alec muttered.

"Then-"

"Did you rip it up?" Alec asked, dropping his gaze to the blood covered sink.

"No," Dean said. "Sam still has it."

Alec swallowed hard, but then looked at Sam and admitted, "I can't stay standing for much longer…" Sam quickly helped Alec over to the closed toilet seat and got him to sit down. He wanted to go over and help, but he wouldn't be able to handle it if Alec flinched again. "I know you're mad, but don't rip it up, ok?" Alec practically begged.

"Alec-"

"Don't. Don't rip it up," Alec cut off. He took a deep breath and said, "I was trying to do something nice…When…when Rachel died, I would've given anything to have something to remember her by, something I could hold on to. I've had way too many close calls lately, and I don't want to leave you guys with nothing. And…and I don't want you guys to forget me…"

"Alec, we could never forget you," Sam reassured.

Alec just shrugged, so he jumped in and said, "Alec, you're our little brother. We could never forget about you and we don't want to lose you."

"I'm not giving up though," Alec said. "I wouldn't do that to you guys…"

He and Sam were quiet for a minute, and then Sam said, "I'm going to go get you some ice for your knee, ok? I know it's hurting, and we're gonna have to take off soon."

Alec nodded, not even bothering to try to argue about the ice which meant he really had to be hurting. Sam left the tiny bathroom, leaving him and Alec alone. He felt awkward; he didn't know if Alec was going to forgive him for hitting him or not. He knew Alec had been hurt way worse before, in fact, he'd probably hit him harder on accident when they had sparred before, but this was a terrible thing to do to him. Alec had been abused his entire life, and even though he tried to hide it, it had really messed him up.

"Alec, I'm so sorry," Dean finally whispered. "I should've never hit you."

Alec shrugged again and muttered, "It didn't even hurt…no big deal."

"No, it is a big deal," Dean argued. "You trusted me, and I messed that up. I shouldn't have done it."

"Dean, I'm ok," Alec said. "My knee hurts, but that's just from running for too long."

He walked over to Alec and crouched down in front of him, "I'm sorry, Alec." His brother started to say something, but he wanted to make this clear before Alec decided to never talk about it again. "You don't have to forgive me, but I am sorry for hitting you."

"I forgave you right after you did it," Alec said. "I told you it wasn't a big deal."

He sighed; he didn't know how to get Alec to see that it was a big deal. And what was worse, Alec wouldn't fight back if it was someone he trusted. "Alec, I want you to promise me that if me or Sam ever hit you or try to hurt you, you'll fight back. I don't care if we're processed or not, you need to fight back."

"Did you fight back when I was possessed?" Alec asked. He didn't answer, which was an answer in itself. Alec knew he and Sam hadn't fought back against him while he was possessed, and they would have let him kill them if it meant saving him. "How can you tell me to fight back when I know you wouldn't fight me if I was possessed?" Alec asked.

He didn't have a good answer; he knew Alec didn't want to hear that his life meant more to him than his own, but it was true. He didn't really care what happened to him as long as his brothers were safe. "Just…I don't want to ever hurt you again, ok?" He finally said. "I'm a hypocrite, but possessed or not, I don't want you to ever let me hurt you again no matter what."

Alec's jaw clenched, but he looked down and nodded. He knew his little brother probably wouldn't listen to him, but hopefully he'd never hurt his brother again. "And you know I'd never willingly leave you guys, right?" Alec asked, still refusing to look up at him.

"That letter scared the shit outta me," Dean admitted. Alec finally looked up at him in surprise, so he continued, "You were depressed for a long time…and me and Sam…we thought we were gonna lose you. And you've been doin' better, but I know it still hits you and it terrifies me to think about."

"Is that what your nightmares are about now?" Alec asked softly.

"Sometimes," Dean replied honestly. "Sometimes I walk into the room to find you dead with a note in your hand that says you're sorry."

"I wouldn't do that to you," Alec said. "I can't always handle the guilt, but I'm not going to force an early check out…" His little brother smirked at his own motel room joke and looked at him to see if he thought it was funny.

He chuckled and messed up Alec's hair, and he was overjoyed when Alec didn't flinch away from him. "Alright, you ok if I check you over?" Dean asked.

Alec nodded, but said, "It's just the cut and my knee. Sammy was way overreacting when he hauled me in here."

"How'd you get this cut?" Dean asked, carefully examining the stitches over Alec's eye.

"They were smart," Alec said. "One of 'em saw me, and then they split up. There was an ambush around one of the corners and they smacked me with a bottle, which broke and cut me."

"And then you took off?" Dean asked. Alec hesitated, so he knew that wasn't the whole story. "Alright, c'mon, let me see," Dean said. Alec rolled his eyes and sighed, but then slowly lifted the left side of his shirt. "I'm hopin' you were going to tell me or Sam about this before we took off," Dean said, a warning in his voice.

"I was going to take care of it," Alec defended. "It's not even that deep…"

"It needs stitches," Dean said, moving to look over the deep cut through Alec's skin. "This from the glass?"

"No…" Alec muttered.

"Knife?" Dean asked, although he already knew the answer. Alec nodded, but he wouldn't meet his gaze again. He decided to just focus on cleaning the wound and stitching it up even though all he wanted to do was go find the dicks that did this to his little brother. "I won't rip it up," Dean whispered as he carefully cleaned out Alec's injury.

"What?" Alec asked, shaking himself back into the present. His little brother had zoned out as soon as he'd picked up the antiseptic, which he knew he would do since he did that a lot when they were patching him up.

"I won't rip up the letter," Dean repeated. The relief Alec felt was obvious; his little brother really did want to leave something for him if the worst happened. "I'll give it back to you once Sam gets back, ok?"

Alec nodded and smiled just a little bit. "Thanks for not ripping it up…it was hard enough to write that the first time."

"I just hope I never have to read it again," Dean said with a sad smile.

"I hope not either," Alec agreed.

"Hey, so I've got the ice, but I think we should- Alec, what the Hell!? You didn't tell me about that one!" Sam accused.

"It's fine," Alec reassured. "Dean's patching me up, and then we can go."

"Alright, well, um, we can ice your knee in the car," Sam said.

"I've just gotta put in a few stitches, and then we can go," Dean said.

* * *

 _He gasped in pain as he was punched hard across the face. He knew better than to fight back since that would just make it worse, but pretty much anything he did would make this worse. If he flinched, he was punished, if he made any sound of pain, he was punished, if he spoke at all, he was punished. A heavy boot kicked him hard for the gasp, making in collapse to the cold concrete._

 _He wanted to sob, to run and hide, to do anything to make this stop, but he just had to take the beating. He just wished he knew what he'd done wrong._

 _"Get him up," someone ordered._

 _He was forced to his feet and pushed up against the wall. His legs shook under his weight, but he managed to stay standing. His blood dripped to the floor, but he kept his eyes up like he was supposed to._

 _He was examined; he heard them say he had a broken wrist, some broken ribs, and a sprained ankle, but he was in so much pain, he couldn't really tell what hurt the most. Someone suddenly grabbed his wrist though, causing him to cry out in pain._

 _Someone punched him again, and the whole thing started all over again._

He startled awake suddenly when someone touched his shoulder. He flinched away from the contact and scrambled back to get even more distance.

"Hey, hey, hey," someone tried to soothe, but he just curled up in a ball and tried to get further away. "Sam, I need some help…"

"What happened?"

"I tried to get him to wake up, but he flinched and got as far away from me as he could."

"Dean, it's ok, he probably just had a nightmare."

"Or he's scared of me since I hit him…"

He heard someone sigh, and then another hand gently touched his shoulder. "Alec, can you hear me?" He recognized the voice, but part of him could still feel the pain from the fists hitting him over and over again. "Alec, c'mon, we're at a motel, so we can eat, and you can lay on a real bed…"

"Here, put this on him, it'll help."

He was enveloped in warmth and the scent of leather, smoke, and gun powder. He knew that scent…

He slowly opened his eyes and saw his brothers in front of him. Sam was right next to him while Dean was outside of the Impala, keeping a safe distance from him. He looked down and saw that Dean's leather jacket was draped over him.

"Hey, you with us again?" Sam asked gently, putting his hand on his shoulder.

He nodded and mumbled, "Sorry…"

"It's ok, let's just get you inside," Sam soothed.

"I'm alright," Alec whispered, slowly untangling from the ball that he'd curled into. His muscles hurt from being so tense and his knee was still sore from running for so long, but the worst part was that he could still feel the phantom pain from all the previous beatings he'd been put through.

His brother looked like he didn't believe him, but he didn't call him on it. Instead, he helped him get up and kept him steady once he was on his feet again. He quickly shrugged Dean's jacket on since he didn't want to give it back yet. It was fairly obvious that Dean was keeping his distance from him, and he felt bad for flinching again. He did forgive his brother for hitting him, he just couldn't stop flinching for some reason. He knew Dean wasn't going to hit him again, and he felt stupid every time he flinched, but he couldn't help it.

"Alright, you're just going to lay on the bed and ice your knee," Sam said as he helped him get situated on the bed. His brother propped his knee up with a pillow and got him the blanket from the closet. "I'll find something on the TV for you to watch, and then we can order a pizza or something."

"Or I can go out and get some burgers," Dean suggested from the doorway.

"Pizza sounds good," Alec said, refusing to let Dean take off if he could help it.

"Ok, I'll order some pizza and get you some ice," Sam said, getting up and leaving the room.

"I'm sorry for flinching again," Alec said as soon as Sam was gone. "I just had a nightmare and it didn't have anything to do with you."

"What was the nightmare about?" Dean asked, still refusing to move anywhere near him.

"It was just Manticore," Alec said. "Nothing I haven't been through before."

His brother still didn't look convinced, but he did walk a little closer to him. He snuggled further into Dean's jacket and tried to forget about the dream. He wasn't there anymore. He was free, and he stayed with his brothers. He was fine.

Except he wasn't fine. He couldn't block out the memories like he normally could. He needed to go out and do something, but his knee really was hurting, and he knew his brothers wouldn't let him leave right now. He just had to try to forget about it.

All his life he'd been beaten, and it had started to seem normal until he wasn't there anymore. And Dean hitting him once shouldn't have caused him to relive things from Manticore, but it did. What if he couldn't stop flinching every time Dean was around him? Dean was his big brother, he didn't want him to disappear because of this.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asked, gently shaking his shoulder. His brother was right next to him now, which meant he'd completely zoned out because he hadn't seen him move.

"Nothing," Alec replied quickly.

"Yeah…that was convincing," Dean sarcastically replied.

"I don't want to talk about it," Alec said. Maybe if he didn't talk about it, he could forget about it faster.

"Ok," Dean easily replied, but then asked, "Do you want to share with me or Sam tonight?"

He smiled just a little since his brother knew he needed to be around someone tonight if he was going to get any sleep. "I'll share with you," Alec said, scooting over and maneuvering the blanket out from under himself. Maybe this way Dean would quit blaming himself for what happened, and he could figure out how to stop flinching every two seconds.

Dean helped him get comfortable again, and then said, "I'll wake you up when the pizza gets here."

"Thanks Dean…" he mumbled back, already half asleep.

* * *

"Dude, how long's he been asleep?" Sam asked as he walked back in. He held out a coffee cup to him, which he gratefully took.

"Goin' on 13 hours now…" Dean said.

"Well, it's safe to say he still trusts you," Sam said, walking over to his own bed and sitting down.

Alec snuggled against his side again, but he still didn't wake up. His little brother was clinging to him like his life depended on it, which maybe in whatever dream he was having, it did. "Or he's so tired he doesn't care who he's sleeping next to," Dean said.

Sam rolled his eyes but didn't argue with him. "Did you get any sleep?" Sam asked after a minute.

"Nah…but I'll be alright," Dean said. "I think we can still make it to Indiana by nightfall…but we'd have to wake him up, and I don't know if I wanna do that."

"I don't see the point of going to Indiana in the first place," Sam muttered. "It's not like we're gonna hunt…"

"There's somethin' weird goin' on in Indiana," Dean said.

"I should've rephrased that," Sam said. "It's not like me and Alec are gonna hunt."

"What're you talking about?" Dean asked, playing dumb. He had hoped Sam wouldn't catch on, but his brother was too smart for his own good.

"I'm talking about how you're still carting us around the country, you wait until Alec's asleep, make up some excuse for me if I'm still awake, and then disappear for the night," Sam said. "You've done it in the last four towns we've been to."

"I'm just goin' out for a beer, no big deal," Dean said with a shrug.

"So, me and Alec can't go out for a beer too?" Sam challenged back.

"Alec's still taking painkillers," Dean said. "Shouldn't mix painkillers and alcohol, you know that Sammy."

"And yet we still do that," Sam said.

"Look-"

"I already know what you're doing, Dean," Sam cut off. "You're keeping Alec from hunting and you're trying to hide it from him."

"I'm not keeping Alec from doing anything," Dean said. That was a lie; Sam had hit it right on the nail. He was trying to keep Alec from hunting because he wanted to keep him safe. Alec got hurt on almost half the hunts they went on, and it wasn't because he was bad at hunting, he was actually awesome at hunting, but he had bad luck. And there were times Alec tried to protect him and Sam and got caught up in the crossfire. It was safer for him if he stayed away from hunting.

"You either need to let him hunt or quit sneaking out," Sam said. "He's gonna figure it out sooner or later, if he hasn't already."

"Sam…it's safer for him to keep him away from hunting," Dean explained.

"And what do you think is gonna happen when he figures this out?" Sam asked. He just shrugged, so Sam said, "He'll start going on his own hunts by himself, which means we won't be able to protect him at all."

"His knee's still bothering him," Dean pointed out. "I don't wanna make that worse, especially since he went through so much to just get back to this point."

"His knee only bothers him when he runs too long," Sam said. "He just needs a couple days rest, and then he'll be fine to hunt."

"I'm just gonna let him sleep," Dean said.

"So, you're gonna stop sneaking out, right?" Sam asked to make sure.

"Yeah, I'll stop sneaking out," Dean grumbled.

"And you'll let Alec hunt?" Sam asked.

"We'll see…" Dean muttered.

"Dean-"

"I'll get someone else to take the case in Indiana," Dean said. "I think it's vampires again, Sam. I don't want him anywhere near vampires…"

"Dean, you know everything that happened to him was just a bunch of freak accidents all rolled into one, right? Henriksen thinking he's you, getting chased by the cops, the crash, getting locked up, having seizures, and then all the blood loss, Dean, any of that happening by itself would've been fine, but it all happened at once," Sam said. "All I'm saying is, he can handle vampires. He can handle anything we hunt, so you need to stop freaking out."

"Fine," Dean sighed.

"So, you'll let Alec hunt, right?" Sam asked. His brother knew him too well…

"Sam, I'm the oldest. I'll decide when we should hunt again," Dean said.

"Dean, what else can we do?" Sam asked. "We've gone to the Grand Canyon, we hit up Vegas, we went across the country to see Niagara Falls…I don't know how many more distractions you can throw at him before he decides he's bored."

"Oh, come on, you know it was hilarious when we stopped at the biggest ball of twine," Dean said with a laugh. Alec's face had been hysterical when they'd stopped, and he'd pretended to hold him back, claiming that he was going to go cat crazy. He and Sam had laughed about that for hours while Alec tried not to laugh but failed.

Sam rolled his eyes, but he was trying to hold back a smile. "Ok that was a good one, but I'm tellin' ya, he's gonna catch on."

"Just let him sleep," Dean said. "We'll hunt again eventually."

Sam finally just shrugged back and grabbed his laptop. He just let Alec sleep against him and decided to wait for a little while longer to start really hunting again. He didn't want to read that letter Alec wrote ever again.

* * *

 _Let me know what you all think! More soon..._


	2. Chapter 2

He jumped when something was suddenly slammed against the hood of the Impala in front of him. He frowned at the newspaper in confusion, but then looked up to see Alec standing there, looking at him expectantly.

"Good morning to you too…" Dean muttered. He'd been looking for something else they could do, but he wasn't having much luck. There were only so many distractions he could use, and even going back and forth across the country wasn't enough to keep them from hunting forever.

"This is the most cut and dry werewolf hunt I've ever seen," Alec stated. "We're 10 miles away. We're the closest hunters and this is a hunt even a beginner could do. What's your excuse this time?"

Alec was completely healed now, his knee only hurt him when he ran too long, but he still didn't want to take his little brother on a hunt. He'd made up excuses and kept Alec distracted to keep them off of a hunt for three months now, but he knew it wasn't going to last forever. Alec hadn't been on a hunt in almost six months since he'd been bedridden for nearly three months at Bobby's and he'd managed to distract him for another three months, but now he was out of excuses and so was Sam.

"I don't feel like it," Dean finally mumbled, looking away from his little brother.

"You don't feel like it?!" Alec repeated in outrage. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Alec-"

"Fine. You don't want to go. But that's not going to stop me from going," Alec said.

He turned to face his brother and shook his head no, "There's no way you're goin' on this hunt by yourself."

"You're welcome to go with me," Alec said casually. "I could probably use some backup, especially since this will be my first hunt in six months…"

"Don't you think we should find an easier hunt to ease back into it?" Dean tried.

"No," Alec stated. "I'm still going, with or without you. I'm talking to Sam as soon as he gets out here."

"Alec, werewolves are not a good first hunt back," Dean said. "It's probably not just one werewolf, it's probably a pack with the number of deaths, so I think we need to find someone else to take care of it."

"So you did know about it," Alec accused.

"What?"

"You know how many deaths there have been, and you know it's probably a pack," Alec said. "You've been following this."

He took a deep breath and let it back out, unwilling to argue with his little brother more. Yes, he knew about the case, but he had no intension of letting Alec in on it. He wanted his little brother as far away from a pack of werewolves as he could get. The worst part was, he hadn't even realized there was a case until they got here, and he'd accidently caught sight of the headline on a newspaper. He was so used to not hunting ever since Sam told him to stop, that he'd just stopped looking for cases. It was just a weird coincidence.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sam asked, walking out of the hotel room.

"There's a hunt and we're going," Alec said. His little brother looked at him, daring him to argue again.

He looked to Sam, and he shrugged back to him. "You knew we were out of excuses," Sam said.

"It a pack of werewolves…" Dean muttered.

"Luckily, there are three of us," Sam said. "And we're already here."

"It's two against one," Alec said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And now I've got backup, so I'm not sure what other excuse you could use."

He couldn't think of anything to keep Alec from hunting.

"Fine. We can check it out," Dean grumbled.

* * *

"Why's Dean keeping us away from hunting?" Alec asked as they walked down the street of the small town. Dean was already at the diner, but Alec had volunteered to go do research with him. They really didn't need to do a lot of research since they knew the werewolves hunted down at the docks, but they had to wait around until dark anyway, so they might as well look.

"It hasn't been that long since we've gone hunting," Sam hedged. He didn't want to rat his brother out since he sort of agreed with him. Alec was safer not hunting.

"Yeah it has," Alec argued. "And now you're defending him."

"Alright, look, I think he was just trying o keep you safe," Sam said. "The last hunt freaked him out, so he's just worried that it's going to happen again. He just doesn't want you to get hurt, but he'll be ok since you're hunting with backup. We'd have to hunt again sooner or later."

"Yeah? I bet he'd be pissed if I started sneaking out, going on my own hunts like he has," Alec muttered.

"You knew?" Sam asked in surprise.

"You do know I'm a light sleeper, right?" Alec asked, scowling at him.

He shook his head in amusement, "Alright, I'll give you that one. But I told him that you were gonna figure it out, but he still wanted to put off hunting."

"You know I'm not delicate," Alec said. "I hurt my knee and I had a bunch of seizures, but I'm ok and that was a freak thing."

"Your heart stopped too," Sam said. He'd almost said the same thing that Alec was saying now to Dean not too long ago, but now he was siding more with Dean than he was with Alec in this argument. "I wasn't there when Dean had to do CPR the first time, but I was there this time, and the only other times I've really been that scared was when Dean almost died. But this was even worse because I didn't know what to do and we weren't in a hospital…You practically died, and then it took a long time to get you back on your feet. I can see why he wanted to wait this long to start hunting again."

"I know I scared you guys, but I'm ok and I've been ok for a while now," Alec said. "And hunting werewolves is one of my better hunts. There's a lot of shooting and I'm a really good shot."

He finally nodded and said, "I'll try to get him to back off, but I don't know how well that's gonna go over…"

"I'm sorry," Alec said. "But I want to hunt. I want to do something…make a difference and all that…I like helping people. And I haven't gotten to help anyone in a long time…"

He looked over at his little brother and realized this was really important to him. He'd actually been missing hunting a lot. "Don't worry, we'll go on this hunt," Sam reassured.

"What about after this hunt?" Alec asked.

"We'll do this one, and then Dean will see that you're ready for hunting," Sam said. "Just…don't get hurt on this one, ok? If you get hurt, then it'll be a lot harder to convince Dean that this is gonna be ok."

"I'm tellin' ya Sammy, I'm good at werewolves," Alec said with a wide smile.

* * *

"Hey, where're you going?" Dean asked him after they finished dinner.

"I'll meet you at the hotel," Alec said. Something was bugging him, and he wanted to figure it out before they went on the hunt.

"I don't think so, kiddo," Dean said, grabbing his arm and dragging him back. "You're not sneakin' off to go on this hunt by yourself."

"No-I'm not gonna do that," Alec said. "I just want to look at something before we go."

"What do you want to look at?" Dean asked. Sam stopped walking and slowly started back to them.

He hesitated before he said, "Nothing…it's nothing."

"No, it's gotta be somethin', so what is it?" Dean prodded.

"I don't know…it's nothing," Alec said. Sam's eyebrows raised like he didn't believe him, and it looked like Dean didn't believe him either. "It just feels like there's something more to this. I just wanted to get some newspapers from the past few years and make sure everything matched up."

"The past few years?" Dean asked, while Sam said, "We already did research."

"I know we did research and I know it doesn't make sense, but something doesn't feel right," Alec said.

"Alec, if you don't want to hunt, then I can call Bobby and he can get someone else on it," Dean said.

"No. I want to hunt," Alec said as fast as he could. "I just feel like something's off…"

"Hey, it's been a long time since we've hunted," Sam said. "My first hunt back after four years was rough, but we'll be fine."

"Can I still get the newspapers?" Alec asked.

Dean looked at him for a few seconds before he nodded, "Alright, let's go get your newspapers…"

After about another hour at the library, the three of them were back in the hotel with a huge stack of newspapers that they'd printed out. He was sitting in the middle of his bed with at least 20 papers surrounding him, but he still didn't know what was bothering him. Sam had tried to help, but he couldn't explain what he was looking for, so that didn't last long. Dean was cleaning all of their guns and stocking extra clips with silver bullets. Normally he would help clean their guns since it always helped him think straight, but he didn't have much time left to figure this out.

"Alec…just talk about it," Dean finally said. "Just talk it through with me. Whatever's bothering you, maybe talking about it will help."

"I can't talk about it because I don't know what it is…" Alec muttered, scanning another page as fast as he could.

"I can't help if I don't know what the problem is," Dean said.

"These are the only killings like this…" Alec finally said. "I haven't seen any other animal attack that's resulted in a death…ever…"

"Maybe the pack just moved into town…started a new hunting ground," Sam reasoned.

"The week that we roll into town?" Alec asked skeptically. "That's one Hell of a coincidence…"

"We can't just ignore it," Sam said. "They'll kill again tonight, and even if it is a trap, we've gotta try to stop it."

"Alec…maybe you should stay here tonight…" Dean muttered.

"I didn't bring this up just so you could bench me," Alec said.

"Dean, just because it could be a trap, it doesn't mean Alec has to sit out," Sam reasoned. "It's still the same hunt except they might be ready for us."

Dean's jaw clenched as he turned away from them and ran his hand through his hair. "Fine. But if we're gonna hunt, then we need to leave."

He stood up and grabbed his gear before Dean could change his mind.

* * *

"C'mon, you're with me," Dean said, grabbing Alec's arm before he could get too far away.

"Dean," Alec whined.

"You wanna hunt, then you hunt with me," Dean stated. He wasn't budging this time. He'd let Alec hunt as long as someone was there to back him up. He didn't want to do this in the first place, but Sam wouldn't let him hunt by himself anymore, and they really did need to kill the werewolves before they killed someone else, so this was the only thing they could do.

"This is so stupid…" Alec mumbled under his breath.

He decided to ignore what Alec said, and instead looked over at Sam, "If you run into them, just call." He tossed Sam another clip of silver bullets while Sam nodded back.

"You call too, ok?" Sam said, glancing over at Alec, and then back to him. Sam was just as worried about Alec as he was even though he'd sided with Alec on the whole hunting again thing. He couldn't shake the last time Alec had hunted. He'd nearly lost Alec, he'd been the only thing keeping his little brother alive, so even though it'd been a while since they hunted all together, he still thought he could lose his little brother.

"What do I have to do to prove that I'm ok?" Alec asked. "Because I'm ok! I've been ok for a long time, but I've been humoring you guys because I know I freaked you out. But I can't keep sitting around doing nothing. I have to get out and do things, or else I'm gonna go crazy."

"We're letting you hunt," Dean defended.

"Yeah, but you've got me on a leash," Alec grumbled.

"We can argue about it later," Sam said. "Right now, we've got a hunt we need to finish."

"Fine," he and Alec said at the same time. "C'mon, we're goin' left," Dean said, hitting Alec's arm.

Alec checked his clip, and then slid it back into place before he followed him. He knew Alec was mad, but he'd rather Alec be mad at him instead of hunting. But now Alec was mad at him _and_ hunting, which royally sucked. But he had no doubt in his mind that Alec would still have his back. That was actually the part that was worrying him the most. Alec would try to protect him, and he would get hurt trying to keep him safe.

"You can stop the hovering," Alec whispered as they slowly made their way down the dock. "That last hunt was a fluke, it's not gonna happen again."

"Alec, you've nearly died at least five times since me and Sam found you," Dean said. "If you nearly die again, we're done hunting."

"You can't be serious, right?" Alec asked.

"Yeah I'm serious," Dean said. "Hunting took my Mom and Dad from me, I'm not letting it take my brothers."

"Dean, I have to keep hunting," Alec said, looking at him and silently begging him to understand. "This is the only way to prove that I'm worth something. I've done so much bad shit…I gotta do something good."

He was quiet for a few minutes before he nodded in understanding, "I get it, ok? I do. But I can't shake the feeling that you're gonna die."

"I will die," Alec said. "At some point, I'm gonna die. And that's ok, Dean. I'm ok with going out on a hunt, especially if it means that you and Sam will be ok. But I'm gonna do everything I can to not go out too soon. I want to stick around. You guys are my brothers, and you need me."

He smiled just a little and teased, "We need you, huh?"

"Yeah," Alec said with a decisive nod. "I'm the funny one in the family, and the best looking."

"I hope you're joking," Dean said. "You're the youngest…and how 'bout I give you…the most likely to take a nap in the middle of an Indiana Jones marathon."

"I was tired," Alec said.

"That's no excuse," Dean said.

"It is when you knew I couldn't stay awake for more than four hours at a time," Alec pointed out.

"Yeah, well-" he stopped when he heard something. He looked back to Alec, who nodded that he'd heard it too. They snuck down the dock towards a little shack, and Alec stayed behind him just like he hoped he would. Maybe they could get this hunt done before anything bad could happen.

Alec suddenly tapped his arm four times, which meant he could either see four of them or could hear them. He trusted Alec's senses way more than his own, so he didn't question it. He really wished there weren't four in the little shack, but he knew he and Alec could take them out.

Alec hit his arm again though, so he stopped and turned to look at him. "I don't think they're werewolves," Alec whispered. "They just smell human…"

"Ok, so, wrong shack?" Dean asked.

"I don't know…" Alec said. "Somethin's not right…"

He looked down the dock and saw someone walking towards them, and there was another one coming up behind them. "Looks like the shack might be our only option…"

Alec nodded, so they took off for the shack. Maybe the four in there really were human, so it might be their best option right now. They ran into the little building, and he shut the door as soon as Alec was inside.

"You think those other two were the werewolves?" Alec asked softly.

"I don't know…"

"Dean…you're a lot earlier than we thought you'd be," a voice said behind him.

He and Alec spun around at the same time to see four men standing there, two with shotguns against their shoulders, one with a handgun, and one with a baseball bat. "You guys hunters?" Dean asked. He didn't recognize any of them, but that didn't mean anything. He hadn't even known there were that many other hunters until the Roadhouse, so it wasn't a surprise he didn't know them.

"We are," said the one wearing the blue plaid.

The one wearing a cowboy hat said, "We've been trying to find you Winchesters for a long time. Decided we should just bring you to us. Who knew you guys would fall for it so quick…"

"Why were you looking for us?" Alec asked.

Baseball bat smirked and said, "We heard the Winchesters were the ones who let out all these extra demons."

"And we heard they had a freak ridin' around shotgun," the one with the handgun said. "Looks like we found the freak."

"Hey, you don't get to talk to my brother that way," Dean growled. These guys were dead. No one was allowed to treat his brother like that and live. Alec suddenly tugged on his beltloop, which meant he either wanted him to shut up or he thought they should run.

Running sounded good to him, so he rolled his shoulder to tell Alec that they would run, he just had to wait for his signal. The cowboy hat started talking again, but he fired his gun into the air, making the four men jump. As soon as he fired his gun, Alec kicked behind him to bust down the door.

Alec collapsed as soon as the door was open, and he turned to see what had happened. The two that he saw before they ran to the shack were there, and one had his rifle flipped around. He'd been the one who had hit Alec as soon as he saw him.

He started to run at the man but cried out when a burning pain tore through his left shoulder. He took a hard hit to his side from the butt of the rifle, and then the man followed up with a right cross to his jaw. He was forced to stumble away from Alec, who was still unconscious on the ground.

A gun barrel was put against his back, so he slowly raised his arms up in surrender. Alec was out, he was hurt…he just had to hope Sam was still ok and could get them out of this.

"You come with us," Blue plaid said. "And we won't kill the freak right away."

His arms were forced behind his back, and he had to stifle his cry of pain, but then cuffs were slapped on his wrists. He tried to turn to see what they were going to do with Alec, but two of them grabbed his arms and drug his limp body along with them.

The men brought him and Alec to another shack with three chairs set up in the middle of the room. His hope disappeared when he saw Sam already tied to one of the chairs. Sam looked over when he and Alec were brought in, but his face fell when he saw them. They were screwed now…

* * *

 _More soon..._


	3. Chapter 3

He could hear voices once he finally started to surface again. He really hoped Dean was the one talking, but he couldn't think of how Dean took all those guys down and got him out unless Sam found them somehow. The more likely scenario was that those guys still had them, and he could smell blood, so that meant either Dean was hurt, or he'd been able to get in a few good hits on the other guys.

He kept his breathing slow and even, so it seemed like he was still unconscious. He needed to figure out what was going on before he could do anything. He could tell he was handcuffed with his arms behind his back, and he was slumped over in a chair, but he didn't think he was actually tied to the chair. Well, these guys were morons. They knew he was a transgenic, but they didn't know anything about him.

"So, you killed those people to get us here?" Dean asked. Good. Dean was still alive. Now these guys might just lose some limbs instead of their lives.

"That's about it," one of the men said. "We were trying to find you ever since you opened that devil's gate."

"Well, you guys suck at tracking," Dean said with a forced laugh. His brother was hurt. He could hear the pain in his voice even though he was trying to cover it up.

"Yeah, Gordon found us without a problem about two days after breaking out of jail," Sam said.

Ok, so, both of his brothers were here. Sam sounded a little stuffed up, which meant his nose was probably hurt, but he didn't sound like he was in as much pain as Dean was in. And he could tell that he was on the right of Dean and Sam was on the left of Dean. Now he just had to figure out how many were in the room they were in, and then take them out.

"A lot of hunters like Bobby Singer, so we couldn't just barge into his place to kill you all," a man said. "We knew you were there though, and that's when we found out about the freak."

"I told you not to talk about my brother like that," Dean growled. "When I get outta here, you're dead, I promise you that."

"Ahhh what does he care, he's still unconscious," someone said sounding patronizing. A rough hand grabbed his face and turned him to the left. He kept his eyes closed and pretended to still be unconscious. It was hard though, he knew his brothers were freaking out, but he couldn't let on that he was awake, not yet.

"Leave him alone!" Sam and Dean yelled at the same time. The man released him, and he slouched like he was supposed to.

"You son of a bitch!" Dean shouted. That was the only warning he had before someone punched him hard across his face. It was harder not to react this time, but he managed to keep up the act.

"I thought he was supposed to be better than humans…"

That was the third person's voice…He could take on three fairly easily, but if they had guns, then they could shoot his brothers and that would ruin everything. He had to know for sure how many there were in the room before he made his move.

Dean started humming suddenly, which didn't really help him to pay attention to the men that were holding them captive, but then he realized Dean knew he was awake and he was trying to clue him in on something. He couldn't tell what song it was that Dean was humming…

 _"Fear me you lords and lady preachers,"_ Dean sang quietly, so pretty much only he could hear the words. _"I descend upon your earth from the skies."_ Too bad he still didn't know what song it was, even with the words. _"I command your very souls you unbelievers."_ Come on Dean, get to the important part already… _"Bring before me what is mine."_ That couldn't be it. _"The seven seas of rhye."_

Seven. There were seven men in there. Ok…seven was kind of a lot for him to take on by himself, but if he could get one of their guns, then he'd have a better chance. But with his hands still cuffed behind his back, that was going to make things difficult.

Dean started whistling a different tune, and he nearly rolled his eyes when he figured out this one. Dean was whistling the beginning of 'Patience' by Guns N' Roses. It came on the radio sometimes, and Dean always made sure he knew who sang what song. He guessed it was a good thing now since Dean was giving him instructions through songs.

But he wasn't going to listen to this instruction. He wasn't going to be patient and wait for these guys to decide that killing them would be better than torturing them.

He thought about taking one of the guys hostage, but that would just leave his brothers too exposed. He had to make sure the focus stayed on him as much as possible. He didn't know how hurt Dean was, but he was going to protect him even if it killed him.

The man who had grabbed his face was back, only this time he put a knife against his throat. "I'm just going to go ahead and get rid of this thing before it can do any more damage…" His brothers immediately started yelling for the man to stop, but he wasn't listening. The knife nicked his skin, drawing enough blood to drip down his neck, so he decided now would be the best time to make his move.

He slammed his head against the other guy's head, making him fall back in surprise. The other men in the room started to scramble to get their guns, so he had enough time to jump up from the chair, and then jump high enough to get his hands under his legs so they'd be in front of him. He kicked the man who'd had a knife against his throat, and then dropped and rolled when a shot rang out. The gunshot missed him, and he managed to grab a gun from the floor.

He shot one guy in the leg, causing him to lose his balance and collapse to the floor. Two down, only five more to go.

Another man ran at him, and he hit the man's shotgun away from him and away from his brothers before he used his elbow and slammed it into the guy's jaw, making him fall next to him. He kicked another man who was coming up on his other side, but then froze when he felt the barrel of a gun against his right knee. It was the man who'd had a shotgun that he'd just knocked down.

"You take out my knee, and I'll kill you right now," Alec warned. He'd worked too hard to get his leg back to where it was now, and he wasn't about to let this guy ruin everything. He didn't care if these guys were hunters. He knew he shouldn't kill them because of it, but they were already on his list for hurting his brothers.

The guy started to pull the trigger, but he was faster than him. He got the gun away from him, and then quickly knocked him out. He turned and shot another guy in the shoulder to keep him back, making it so there were only two more he had to worry about.

One of them was headed for his brothers, so he shot the man's leg to get him to drop. The last one was running for the door, but he wasn't going to let him get away so he could call backup. He blurred over to the man and shoved him hard against the wall. It was the asshole that had knocked him out with his rifle…He quickly slammed the man's head against the wall, and then let him drop to the ground.

He was breathing hard, his wrists were bleeding, and his head was pounding, but he'd managed to take them all out without them hurting his brothers. He quickly went around to each man and disarmed them before he started dragging them all to the middle of the room.

"Alec, help me get out of these cuffs and I'll help you," Sam said.

"I wanna tie them all up first," Alec said. "Can't have them following us and all that…"

"Alec, at least get out of the cuffs before you keep going," Dean said. "You're tearing your wrists up…"

"I'm fine, it's just from the fight," Alec muttered. Of course his brothers would find something else to worry about. He'd just taken on seven guys, and they still were trying to act like he was a kid who couldn't take care of himself.

He tied up the seven guys, and then found the keys to the cuffs on one of their belts. He unlocked his cuffs before he quickly unlocked Sam and Dean's cuffs. He refused to let Dean get up though, because he wanted to check him over before they went anywhere.

"I'm fine," Dean grumbled.

"They shot you…" Alec said. "Which one was it?"

"I don't know," Dean said. "Let's just get out of here, ok? We can patch each other up at the motel."

"Dean, we can't stay at the motel," Sam said. "These guys probably know where we're staying."

"Are you good to drive Sam?" Alec asked.

"Yeah…"

"We can swing by the motel to grab our stuff, and then I'll patch Dean up in the car," Alec said.

"I'm right here," Dean grumbled. "And they shot my shoulder, it's not the worst injury I've ever had."

"Welcome to my world," Alec said with a smirk.

"Shut up…" Dean muttered. He helped his brother up and refused to budge when he tried to shrug him off. "Dude, I can walk," Dean growled.

"I'm just trying to help," Alec said.

"I'm fine," Dean said. "I don't know which part of a shoulder wound would mess with my ability to walk…"

"You've lost some blood," Alec pointed out. "And that bullet's still in you…"

"I'm fine," Dean repeated.

"Dean just let Alec help," Sam said with a small smile. "Maybe he'll still let us patch him up if we let him help."

"Fine, but I don't need help walking," Dean muttered.

"Ok," Alec said, backing off a little. He still stayed close to his older brother though just in case he lost his balance or something. But they made it back to the car, and after another fight, Dean finally agreed to lay down in the backseat. Dean claimed he felt fine, but even his head was spinning, and he felt like he needed to sit down, so Dean had to be hurting.

"Keep the car running," Alec said to Sam once they were at the motel. "I'll grab our stuff and be back in a few."

"Alright…wave if you need help with anything," Sam muttered.

He ran inside and washed the blood from his wrists, neck, and temple as fast as he could, and then ran to his duffle to get some of the first aid supplies he'd stashed in there. He wrapped his wrists before he threw everything that was his into his duffle. He moved on to packing the rest of their things, and then he did a sweep of the whole room before he went back outside. He threw their things in the trunk and grabbed the first aid kit, so he could patch Dean up while they were driving.

"Are you serious?" Dean asked as he slid into the backseat. "You patched yourself up while you were in there?"

"It's not a big deal," Alec muttered. He grabbed the scissors when Sam started driving again, and quickly cut through the sleeve and the top seam of Dean's t-shirt.

"Hey," Dean complained.

"Payback's a bitch," Alec said.

"This was my favorite shirt," Dean said.

"Alec…should we really be doing this while I'm driving?" Sam asked. "The last time you patched yourself up in the car…it didn't turn out so well…"

"That's because I was patching myself up," Alec said. "I don't always have the steadiest hands when I'm trying to stitch myself up…"

"Sam, this is how we've gotta do this," Dean said, siding with him. "There are too many of them and they've gotta know where we are. But I've still got this bullet in me, and it probably would be better to get it out."

"And it'll just take me a minute," Alec muttered. He put one hand on Dean's shoulder, while he used the tweezers to get the bullet out. "Dean, what was that first song you were singing back there?" Alec asked to help distract his brother.

"Um, it was 'Seven Seas of Rhye' by Queen," Dean said. "Only thing I could think of with the number seven in it…"

"How'd you know he was awake?" Sam asked.

"I don't know…I just knew," Dean said.

"Got it," Alec said with a smile, holding up the bullet for Dean to see.

"Holy shit, that was fast," Dean said.

"What can I say? I missed my calling," Alec muttered. He shrugged out of his jacket and folded it before he put it under Dean's head as a pillow. "Sorry I didn't grab the pillow from the trunk…I didn't think about it."

"It's ok," Dean said.

He stitched up his brother and wrapped his shoulder even though he kind of hated that he was doing this. He wished it had been him that had been shot, not Dean. It was easier for him to be hurt instead of seeing his brothers in pain. He knew Sam and Dean hated to see him hurt, but he'd much rather their roles be reversed. He could handle a lot more pain than they could because of what he was. He should be the one who was hurt.

"Hey, you gonna stay locked in your own head this whole time or are you gonna focus on your patient," Dean said, forcing him back to what was going on now.

"Sorry…"

"Here, let me see how bad that concussion's gonna be," Dean said as he tried to sit up. He kept his big brother down though and grabbed an ice pack from the first aid kit.

"Keep this on your shoulder," Alec said. "It'll help…" He quickly crawled over the bench seat before Dean could argue and slouched down a little to get more comfortable. "Wake me up when you get tired, Sammy," he said. "I'm just gonna take a little nap…"

"That sounds like the concussion talking," Dean muttered from the back seat.

"Then I guess you'll have to wake me up in a couple hours," Alec mumbled. "It'll be a perfect time to switch drivers…"

He dozed off, but then something cold was put against the side of his head. "Just keep that there, Alec," Sam whispered. "I'll wake you up in a little while."

"'M'kay…" Alec slurred before he fell asleep.

* * *

"C'mon Dean, your turn," Sam said, hauling his brother up into a sitting position. His older brother grumbled a little, but then slowly moved with his help. Alec had been surprisingly easy to get into the motel room since he'd been pretty out of it. He was going to check both of his brother over once they were all inside, but first, he had to get Dean inside.

"S'mmy?" Dean slurred.

"C'mon, Alec's already inside," Sam said.

"He ok?" Dean asked.

"Confused, but he's ok," Sam said. Dean nodded, and then finally started to move for real. "How's the shoulder?" Sam asked once they started walking for the room.

"Hurts, but it's not as bad as it was," Dean said.

"Alec's good when he's gotta patch us up," Sam said.

"He hates doin' it though," Dean said. "I could tell he wished he was the one who'd gotten shot…"

He just nodded, but then said, "Guess we should've listened to Alec when he said something was off about this hunt…"

"We really gotta get him a lower profile…" Dean muttered back. "Too many people know about him or can figure out he's a transgenic. He's gotten beat up twice because of it, and now these yahoos are out to get him too."

"He said he lasered off the barcode before, but it came back," Sam said. "I don't know what else we can do for it…"

"And I'd say we could lay low for a while, but obviously that won't work either. It's been six months since we've been on a hunt, but that didn't stop these guys or that group that just recently chased him," Dean said.

"I don't know, man, maybe we need to head closer to Seattle," Sam suggested. "Maybe it's safer in numbers?"

"Except there's no way he's goin' back there without a fight," Dean said. "He told me once that he never wanted to go back."

"We have to come up with something," Sam said.

"Yeah…" Dean muttered. "I kinda forgot he was a badass though."

He huffed and nodded in agreement, "He took those guys out with no problem."

"He was dizzy too," Dean said. "Squinting the whole time like he was trying to get the room back into focus."

"Are you serious?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged, but winced at the movement, "He seemed a little better by the time he dug the bullet outta my shoulder."

He shook his head, but they both dropped the topic of their little brother once they were in the room. Alec was passed out on the bed though, with his boots still on and his face pressed against the pillow. Dean went over to Alec and maneuvered the blankets out from under him while he went searching for the painkillers.

He tossed Dean the bottle once he was done babying their little brother, and surprisingly, Dean took them without complaining.

"What're you doin'?" Dean asked when he got out his laptop instead of getting ready to go to bed.

"I'm gonna try to figure out who those guys were," Sam said. "Try to cover our tracks a little better."

"Sam, I covered our tracks," Dean said. "Those douchebags were laying a trail for us, and we just fell right in."

"I still want to know who they were," Sam said.

"Well I'm beat," Dean said. "I'm gonna hit the hay…"

He just nodded, so Dean walked over to Alec's bed and slowly lay down, holding his hurt arm close. He hoped the painkillers would kick in soon, so his brother could get some more sleep. He searched on the computer for a while, but there wasn't much out there as far as he could tell. He ended up calling Bobby since they'd mentioned knowing him.

"Sam?"

"Hey Bobby," he said.

"How's that little brother of yours?" Bobby asked.

"Um, good," Sam said.

"Dean lettin' him go on hunts yet?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, um, about that, we just sort of went on a hunt, but it was faked by these other hunters," Sam said.

"Ok…" Bobby replied slowly.

"It was a trap for us, Bobby," Sam said. "They were there to take us out."

"Why?"

"They were mad because we opened the devil's gate and because of Alec," Sam said. "They knew about him and they wanted him dead."

"How many were there?" Bobby asked.

"Seven," Sam said. "But we didn't recognize any of them."

"I'll see what I can dig up, but Sam, there's a lot of hunters out there, and it's no secret you've got a new little brother," Bobby said. "And people will get their own opinions of him if they can't meet him, and there's nothin' you can do about the devil's gate. It happened and you're tryin' to do what's right by killin' any that you find, but you can't stop 'em all."

"I know Bobby…" Sam said.

"Just keep an eye out for anyone watchin' ya or any hunt that seems too easy," Bobby said.

"Any idea how to make him less conspicuous?" Sam asked. "A group of people came after him a little while ago because they figured out he was a transgenic."

"The news about transgenics is all over the country now, and normal people are gettin' beat up because people are scared. They don't understand transgenics, they don't know any of 'em…it's gonna be harder for you boys to travel because people know what to look for," Bobby said.

"So what do we do?" Sam asked, shooting a look over at his brothers. They were both sleeping peacefully, and he chuckled a little seeing how different they looked in sleep. Alec was laying on his stomach, taking up a good portion of the bed, while Dean was sleeping on his back, just sleeping on the edge. He knew Dean was making sure Alec had all the room he wanted just because Dean was the best big brother anyone could ask for.

"Cover up that damn barcode, ya idjit," Bobby grumbled. "How do you think they keep figuring it out?"

"Alright…We'll find a way to cover it up," Sam muttered.

"Good," Bobby said. "Now, I've got a real hunt if you boys want it."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Ghost pirates."

* * *

 _More soon..._


	4. Chapter 4

"Ghost pirates?" Dean asked the next morning. "Seriously? Ghost pirates?" He couldn't believe that this was a real hunt. It didn't sound like a real hunt, that was for sure.

"Yeah Dean, ghost pirates," Sam said. "Bobby said they were in South Carolina, and I told him we'd take it."

"What happened to the rule where we didn't hunt while we were hurt?" Alec asked angrily. His little brother had a right to be angry. They'd kept him from hunting for six months, and now Sam was saying they would do another hunt right after he'd gotten shot. He was all for going on another hunt, but he could see Alec's point.

"Dean can sit this one out," Sam said.

"Like Hell I can," Dean growled.

"You got shot yesterday! If I would've gotten shot, then it'd be another six months before we hunted again!" Alec yelled, getting up from the bed.

"Alec, relax," Dean said. "We have no way to kill ghost pirates, so it's still gonna be a while."

"This is unbelievable," Alec grumbled.

"We have to make a pit stop first anyway," Sam said. Alec looked over at Sam but didn't say anything. "We need to laser off your barcode again," Sam said.

"It'll just come back. There's no point," Alec stated.

"I know it'll come back," Sam said. "But it's too easy for them to spot you. We have to get rid of it for a while."

"Fine, I'll be back," Alec said, walking towards the door.

"Hey, you aren't doin' it alone," Dean said. He slowly got up and walked over to Alec to grab his arm. "Just hold on, ok? I know you're pissed, but hold on." Alec finally turned to look at him, so he said, "Let's just get the barcode taken care of, and then we can talk about the hunt."

"The hunt that you're gonna go on even though you just got shot," Alec muttered.

"Yes," Dean said.

"How is that fair?" Alec asked.

"It's not," Dean agreed. "But I'm the oldest, and I can do whatever I want."

"Fine, but I'm gonna be mad about it," Alec said.

"Alright," Dean said.

"Is it ok if I go out to the car to wait, or do I need an escort for that too?" Alec asked sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes, but pushed on Alec's shoulder, "It's fine, just don't take off."

"Whatever," Alec mumbled, leaving the room.

He waited just a minute before he turned to Sam and said, "You just had to agree to another hunt…"

"What was I supposed to say, Dean?" Sam asked. "No Bobby, find someone else. We don't take weird hunts anymore."

"How 'bout we're trying to slowly get back into hunting, we just got off a hunt, so give it to someone else?" Dean asked incredulously. "You knew he'd be pissed about this."

"You could just sit out, Dean," Sam pointed out. "He wouldn't be mad if you just sat out for one hunt."

"I'm not sittin' out on ghost pirates, are you nuts?" Dean asked.

"Why do you think I agreed to this hunt in the first place?" Sam said with a small smile.

"Good point," Dean said. "Next problem, where are we going to get his barcode lasered off?"

"We'll just have to go to a place once it's closed and figure out how to do it ourselves," Sam said. "It'd be too dangerous to go somewhere while it's open. Bobby said the whole country knows about transgenics, so just walking into a place while it's open is out of the question."

"Newsflash Sam, we don't know how to laser off a tattoo," Dean said.

"Alec's done it before," Sam said. "Maybe he knows how to do it and could walk us through it."

"Fine," Dean said. "We better pack up and head out before Alec decides to take off."

"Good point," Sam agreed.

* * *

"You know this won't stay, right?" Alec asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he and Dean walked down the street. Sam was a few blocks away, sitting in the Impala in case they needed to make a quick escape. He hated getting his stupid barcode lasered off, which was why he hadn't bothered getting it touched up again until now.

"We know," Dean said. "But at least people can't just pick you out of a crowd."

"Doesn't mean they won't figure it out," Alec said. "Those hunters knew, and they didn't even see my barcode and they knew what I was."

"You're not a what, you're a who," Dean growled.

"Dean-"

"No, you're my little brother and it pisses me off when people call you a freak, or an it, or what," Dean said. "People want to attack you just because of how you were made. They don't know you."

"Maybe they're not wrong," Alec hissed. Dean pushed him against the wall, but he pushed him right back. "You didn't know me before Manticore collapsed. I was a killer," Alec said. "People are right to be scared of me."

"That was then, this is now," Dean said. "I know you. I know when you regain consciousness, I know which songs will send whatever message I want to tell you, I know when you're pissed off, or when you're uncomfortable about talking about something, I know you wish you would've gotten shot instead of me, and I know you hate what you did while you were at Manticore, but I also know you couldn't have stopped it."

"I don't know what you see in me," Alec muttered.

"Alec, I would have done a lot worse to those other hunters," Dean said. "You just knocked 'em out, shot a couple of 'em, but you let them live. You're not a monster or a killer."

"Then what am I?" Alec asked. He wanted the question to come off snarky, but he didn't even come close. Yeah, maybe it bothered him when people called him a freak, but what bothered him more was that his brothers should think he's a freak too. They shouldn't want him around, and it terrified him to think about being alone.

"You're a Winchester," Dean said with a small smile. "Which means you're stuck with us."

"Alright…" Alec said with his head down.

"And I know you're afraid of bein' alone," Dean said softly. "But you don't have to worry about me or Sam leaving you."

"You could die," Alec said. "Then where would I go?"

"You really wanna have this talk now?" Dean asked. He nodded; Dean had been shot, which reminded him that his brothers weren't invincible. He could lose them on any hunt, and then he'd be on his own again. "Alright, I'm guessin' you don't want to go back to the Valley, right?" He nodded again, so Dean said, "You go to Bobby's. If me and Sam die, then you head to Bobby's. He'll take you in, and you can get back on your feet. But I don't want you hunting if we're gone, you hear me? If we're gone, just live with Bobby, help him build cars, live a normal life, ok?"

"Why?"

"Because if whatever takes me and Sam out doesn't take you out, then I want you to be safe," Dean said. "And I want you to take care of yourself, and I know for sure Bobby would help you. It's kinda like with your letters that you wrote me and Sam. I want you to keep going, and to remember me and Sam. Bobby's is my goodbye letter. We've had a lot of good times there, and that's what I want you to remember."

"How come I don't get taken out in this fantasy?" Alec asked.

"The same reason me and Sam make it out alive in your fantasy," Dean said with a chuckle. "I want you to keep going when me and Sam are gone."

"How come Sam goes out at the same time as you?" Alec asked.

"Because I know Sam, and I know if I'm gone, then he's gone," Dean said. "But I don't want you to follow in our footsteps."

"Ok," Alec said.

"Ok? That's it?" Dean asked, surprised.

"You didn't rip up my letter, so I'll go to Bobby's if something happens," Alec said.

"Good," Dean said. "We done with this sharing and caring crap now? Can we get back to the ghost pirates?"

He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I'm good."

"Alright, so, here's the plan," Dean said. "We'll drive for a few more hours, sleep in the car, and then we should be able to reach South Carolina tomorrow night."

"Man…I hate sleeping in the car," Alec grumbled.

"You've slept in a lot worse places than the car," Dean said in amusement.

"Yeah, which is why I enjoy sleeping in a bed," Alec said.

"One night won't kill ya," Dean said.

"But if we're sleeping in the car, it probably means we're gonna squat in some abandoned shack, which is even worse than sleeping in the car," Alec complained. "I like the sleazy motel rooms because at least they have beds and showers. And some of them even have a working TV. It's practically a five-star place if it has a bed and running water."

"I'll try, but we're low on money again," Dean said.

"Then let me help," Alec said. "I can hustle pool or play poker. You taught me all your tricks, so it'll be easy to get a lot in one night. Definitely enough for a room for a couple nights…Or I can do the ole five finger discount…"

"We'll see," Dean said.

* * *

"C'mon kiddo, up and at 'em," Dean said as Sam parked in front of the abandoned shack. He felt bad for making his brothers stay here, but he didn't want Alec to steal wallets or hustle pool. He knew Alec could take care of himself, but he didn't want Alec to hustle when he wasn't there to back him up. Sam had put his foot down and declared that he couldn't drive or go out to any bars until his shoulder was healed. Sam didn't even want him hunting, but he was fairly sure it would take a while to figure out how to take on ghost pirates.

He reached back and shook Alec's shoulder when he didn't immediately wake up, and then slowly got out of the car. Alec was right about one thing, it sucked to sleep in the car. His shoulder was killing him, and his back and neck were sore from slouching in the front seat.

"Seriously Dean…we've stayed in some dumps before, but this place takes the cake," Sam said as they grabbed their gear. "Does it even have a roof?"

He looked over at the shack and tried to decide if there really was a roof on it or not. He was going to go with not… "Let's just hope it doesn't rain," Dean said.

"Alec's gonna love this," Sam muttered.

"I'm guessin' he's gonna stay in the car," Dean said, looking in the back window to see Alec still curled up with his leather jacket over him like a blanket. As much as he complained about sleeping in the car, he always slept for a long time when they were driving.

"Lock the door and crack the window," Sam said. "He should be just as fine in there as we are in here. Actually…he might be safer in there…" He rubbed his shoulder and tried to ignore the shooting pain that was going up and down his arm as he followed Sam to the house. "Hey, why don't we go scrape what we can from a bar. Looks like Alec isn't the only one who could use a bed."

"I'm fine," Dean grumbled.

Sam looked like he didn't believe him, but he didn't try to stop him from going inside. He was surprised to see some ratty looking furniture in the house, and even though it looked pretty disgusting, he headed straight for the chair and practically collapsed onto the cushion. A puff of dust rose up around him, causing him to cough, which caused his shoulder to ache.

"Seriously Dean?" Sam asked.

"I wanted to sit down, sue me," Dean muttered.

"This is even worse than I imagined…" Alec mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he walked into the room. He looked around the room in disgust, pulling his leather jacket around himself tighter like that would keep him safe from the dirt and grime.

"It's not that bad," Dean said.

Alec slowly sat down on the floor, still trying not to touch anything that he didn't have to. "You look like shit," Alec pointed out. "And this dust bowl is really gonna help with the healing…"

"Maybe you shoulda just stayed in the car," Dean grumbled.

"Maybe I shoulda just gone out to get us some money," Alec muttered back under his breath.

"Hey, we have an actual case to work on," Sam cut in before they could really start arguing. "And the sooner we get this case done, the sooner we can leave."

"I'll stop complaining as long as Dean lets me check his shoulder," Alec bargained.

"My shoulder's fine," Dean said.

He expected Alec to make another sarcastic remark, or even argue with him again, but Alec just looked a little sad, and then simply said, "Ok." He frowned since that wasn't usually how he and Alec went about this. They bantered and used sarcasm and jokes to cover things up, they didn't just say 'ok' when they didn't get their way.

He looked at Alec and tried to see if maybe his concussion was giving him problems, but he wasn't squinting or trying to shield his eyes from the light. Besides, Alec did fine with the concussion checks, so he didn't think that was it. Alec wasn't looking at him though, so that meant something was bothering him. He glanced over at Sam, but he was giving Alec a weird look too. He wanted to ask Alec if he was ok, but there was no way his little brother was going to answer him honestly right now.

So, it probably wasn't about any injuries Alec had gotten, but he knew Alec wasn't happy that he was hurt. It could still be about him going on this hunt instead of sitting out like he'd made Alec do for the past six months. But he also knew Alec wouldn't keep quiet about how he felt on that subject if that's what was bothering him.

It hit him suddenly that maybe Alec thought he didn't trust him because he wasn't letting him take care of him. His brother complained when he or Sam tried to take care of him, but he never refused. He'd just shot down Alec's request to check his shoulder, and then Alec had instantly caved in to his denial.

"Alright, you can check my shoulder if you want to," Dean said, trying to sound annoyed at caving in. He didn't want to make it sound like Alec had won the argument without even arguing first.

"Really?" Alec asked, trying not to sound too hopeful but failing.

"Better hurry up before I change my mind," Dean said.

"Hold on," Alec said before he ran out of the room.

He looked over at Sam, who raised his eyebrows in a silent question. "C'mon, you knew he looked bummed that I wouldn't let him check my shoulder," Dean grumbled.

"Bummed is putting it mildly," Sam said. "He looked like a kicked puppy."

"Which is why I caved," Dean said like it was obvious. "Besides, he usually lets us check him over, so it's only fair that I let him check me over."

"Hey, I'm all for it," Sam said with a smirk. "You get checked over, Alec's happy, there's less arguing, so we all win."

"Shut up," Dean said, rolling his eyes.

Alec ran back in with the first aid kit, and still with a smile on his face. He chuckled, but as long as Alec was happy, then he'd go along with it. "Ok, so I grabbed the painkillers since it looks like your shoulder's bothering you and I got the antibiotics since I think those are probably necessary for regular humans who get shot, right? I mean, I've taken antibiotics for gunshot wounds before, so I figure you probably should too. And I have fresh bandages, so this shouldn't take too long."

"Ok, I'll play along," Dean grumbled as he slowly shrugged out of his overshirt. Alec helped him out of his t-shirt though once he was out of his overshirt. His little brother took off the old bandages, and then carefully inspected his wound. Alec frowned as he inspected it, so he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Um…I…" Alec said slowly, but then he quickly continued, "Ok, so I know I threw a fit earlier because you were going to hunt while you were hurt, but I really think you need to sit out and rest because this looks a little irritated and it's only going to get worse if you hunt but if you just rest for a few days, then it'll heal faster and you won't get worse."

Alec was talking so fast, he could barely catch everything he was saying. But then Sam stood up and walked over, and what Alec said finally clicked. "It's not that bad," Dean said.

"Dean, I think Alec's right," Sam said.

"C'mon Sam, I've been shot worse than this," Dean said.

"Look, me and Alec can handle some ghost pirates once we figure out how we're gonna kill them," Sam said. "This can be a two-man hunt this time."

"No," Dean stated.

"Please," Alec asked softly.

Both of his brothers were giving him puppy-dog eyes, which was making it a lot harder to say no. "We still don't know how to kill them," Dean pointed out. "It could still take a couple days to figure this out, and I might be fine by then."

"But if you're not…then will you sit out?" Alec asked.

"I'll take the pills, and then we'll see," Dean said. "And that's the best you're gonna get, kiddo."

"And I'm going out to win us some money," Alec tacked on. "We're not staying in this dump where you can't even lay down."

"Only if Sam goes with you," Dean said. "And I'm not taking the pills until you two get back, or I go too."

"You're not hustling tonight Dean, you're not up for it," Sam said.

"You're right," Dean agreed. "But this way I can still watch your backs."

Sam and Alec shared a look, and then Alec finally nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Pretty sure he's got this," Sam said, sliding into the booth across from him. "He's already up 250 bucks and no one wants to kick his ass. I'm not worried."

"They're practically giving their money to him," Dean complained. "How is that fair?"

"Dean," Sam said with a sigh. "Seriously?"

"He's not even trying," Dean said. "He could probably just ask for their wallets, and they'd given them to him." Sam gave him a bitchface but didn't disagree. "Whatever, while you two were playing the last game of pool, I grabbed a couple newspapers from the bartender." He smirked and looked over to the bartender, who smiled back at him and gave him a small wave.

"Did you actually find anything or were you just flirting the whole time?" Sam asked.

"I was working," Dean defended. "She said that two shops were robbed last night down by the boardwalk. And there's three other ones in the paper."

"Ok…" Sam said.

"The thing is, all of those shops had something in common," Dean said. "They're tourist shops with overpriced junk, claiming to be treasures."

"What all was taken?" Sam asked.

"Jewelry mostly," Dean said. "Which sounds like what ghost pirates would want to take."

"But you said it was overpriced junk," Sam said.

"I was thinking, it's pretty weird that these pirates just showed up after however many years, just outta the blue," Dean said. "So, I figured there's gotta be something from a ship that was recovered and brought here, but so far I haven't found anything about any discoveries of a sunken ship or any treasure brought here. If it was actually ghost pirates, they would've either had to have already been here for years, or something was recovered."

"Ok, so what're you thinking?" Sam asked.

"Those shop owners, they were scamming people, right?" Dean said. "They were selling stuff for three times what it was worth, and now their 'treasures' are getting taken by pirates. What does that sound like to you?"

"Just desserts," Sam said.

"Exactly," Dean said. "So, it's not ghost pirates…it's the trickster."

"But how is he alive? We killed him," Sam said.

"No idea," Dean said.

"I was looking forward to ghost pirates," Sam said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Dean muttered. "But if there were ghost pirates out there, we probably would have heard about them way before now…"

"So what's the plan?" Sam asked.

"I guess now we're gonna hunt the trickster," Dean said. "Again..."

* * *

 _More soon..._


End file.
